Nukezilla

Nukezilla Review: Wipeout 2 (Wii)

Hans Wuerflein — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:18:52 +0000

I originally rented this game as a trial for a new way of getting more reviews up closer to their release date. I figured that with the exception of RPGs and a few other longer games, most games could be knocked out in a weekend. It might not be the most thorough analysis of the game, but if you can’t tell if a game is worth your time or not after ten hours, it probably isn’t.

Plus, if anyone was going to get all bent out of shape over the shorter review period, it sure wouldn’t be over a six month old Wii game based on a moderately popular game show.

What surprised me about Wipeout 2 was that a one-day rental was more than enough to cover every aspect of the game. In fact, I beat all eight levels, unlocking all the bonus characters in the process, in just over an hour. All that’s left after that is trying to get better times, which don’t really have much of an effect in single player, or playing against a friend, not that I would recommend it. The only real fun there would be trying to bump each other into or off of the obstacles, and for that I’d rather just break of New Super Mario Bros. Wii again.

Wipeout 2 runs players through a 2D-platformer style obstacle course based on the obstacles and challenges of the show it’s based on. Each of the eight levels breaks down into four parts: a straight obstacle course, a simple rhythm based challenge, a race down a slightly different obstacle course against a moderately competent AI opponent, and one last, slightly harder obstacle course. Time is kept across the sections, and the lowest time between the player and the handful of AI opponents wins.

What’s odd is that winning or losing doesn’t seem to have any real impact. Get first, and the next level unlocks, along with one or two bonus characters. Lose… and the next level unlocks, along with one or two bonus characters.

There were really only two moments in the game I got any real enjoyment out of. First, when I unlocked Pitfall Harry after finishing the last level. I’d rather Activision just make a new, good Pitfall game, but it was nice to see the developers throw that reference in there. The second was actually a result of one of the bigger gripes I had with the game. Most of the smaller text, especially instructions and the little number pop-ups that inform you of time bonuses or deductions, are completely illegible on the standard definition TV I was using. Make fun of my crappy TV if you want, but this is the Wii we’re talking about. It only does standard def. Many of the letters blur together, so when it told me to “FLICK THE WIIMOTE” to climb back onto ledges I was clinging to, I honestly thought it told me to “FUCK THE WIIMOTE.” Now, I’m all for innovation and trying new control schemes, but that’s taking things a bit far.

The biggest problem with Wipeout 2 has to be its price. When this game launched, Activision was charging between $30 and $50 (depending on system). If it was $15 I’d feel ripped off. Really, everything this game does was already done better in the free to download Doritos Crash Course for Xbox 360. It’s not a bad game. It’s just insulting that Activision thinks we’ll pay full price for it.

Activision Bungie Contract Terms Revealed and Detailed

Wesley Gaddis — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:12:17 +0000

In light of the recent Activision/Infinity Ward legal drama, another deal (also involving Activision) is taking place that has me shouting “WHAT?!” at my computer screen about every new detail I find.

In what Develop calls “one of the biggest game contracts in the modern age”, an outline for the next ten or so years of Bungie’s existence has been drawn up. If you’ve heard anything about it, Comet and Destiny are the codenames of the two projects — Destiny being the main game trilogy and Comet being a “major downloadable content expansion pack-type software releases developed by the licensor for each Destiny Game”, which there will be four of — that Bungie will be developing for the Xbox 360 and Xbox 720, and the first installment should hit shelves in 2013.

This basically confirms that the “720″ will be out by then, or that Activison is counting its chickens a little early. Either way, it’s an interesting point — in the sense that one of the most popular developers is shacking up with the largest publisher in the industry — to this dull contract.

Some other points that Develop highlights from the contract (linked above) include Bungie having full ownership over the Destiny IP (with a couple of stipulations), Bonuses for: the project being completed on time and within budget, the Metacritic score being 90% or above, if Activision makes $750 million of operating income during a twelve month period, royalty terms, and the budget for the game ($140 million, which includes advertising and marketing).

Bungie also isn’t allowed to work on Marathon until the Destiny project makes $375 million in operating income. Which seems reasonable, Activision wants Bungie to work on Destiny and make it good before they start working on other projects that Activision may or may not have any stake in — which, if the relationship does well, I can definitely see Bungie staying with Activision for a while.

This deal is just business as usual for Activision, replacing Infinity Ward after the recent falling out. However it’s a really sweet, almost sinful deal that will certainly make both parties a lot of money. So other than possible breaches of the contract, I don’t see this being a terribly huge problem.

You can read the full contract over at the LA Times if you speak legal.

Hans’s May 24 vlog: The Videogame Industry Hates the Lakers

Hans Wuerflein — Fri, 25 May 2012 01:06:51 +0000

I go over it a little in the video, but sorry this is a day late. Oh, I decided these will go up on Wednesdays, by the way.

And here is the post from Hamza Aziz I talk about. I generally root for the Thunder and against the Lakers anyway, but I can see why people with no stake in the NBA playoffs are glad LA went out like punks this year.

Oh, and fuck Oliver North.

Trademark Teases New Overseas Layton Release

Jenny Rouse — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:43:44 +0000

Hey, remember last year when I wrote that the folks over at Siliconera had done some pre-E3 snooping and found a North American trademark for Professor Layton and the Last Specter?

Well, they did it again.

While the series’ first 3DS installment, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle was already confirmed for release in Europe (I missed that bit of news, apparently), Nintendo of America has yet to announce anything – until the snoopers over at Siliconera found a newly-filed trademark. And because Nintendo of America has to change the titles of just about everything, the trademark is filed under the name Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask.

Still no word about the best crossover ever. Still, a girl can dream. After all, one of my dreams came true this year.

No related posts.

What’s New and What’s Cheap in the UK: Battlefield 3, Metal Gear Solid and Football Manager 2012

Simon Julian — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:00:59 +0000

Welcome to this week’s edition of “What’s New and What’s Cheap in the UK”, the weekly post telling you exactly what it says on the tin: what’s cheap in Old Blighty. But fear not, international readers: where applicable, prices will also be listed in Euros and USD.

Releases-wise this week is a tad quiet, but not terrible, Dragon’s Dogma hits PS3 and 360, Mario Tennis Open releases on 3DS, while Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Dirt Showdown hit the PC, 360 and PS3 and Sorcery finally releases on PS3.

On the deals side this week, Tesco Entertainment has Battlefield 3 for £21.41, Zavvi has Metal Gear Solid HD Collection: Limited Edition on 360 for £24.95, and Play.com has Skate 3 for £11.99.

Elsewhere Greenmangaming has Football Manager 2012 for £6.77, Gamersgate has Test Drive Unlimited 2 for £4.50 and SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition for £4.98 and Steam has Dead Island for £7.99

What catches your eye on either side this week?

What’s New

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Dirt Showdown

Dragon’s Dogma
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Dirt Showdown
Sorcery

Dragon’s Dogma
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Dirt Showdown

Mario Tennis Open

What’s Cheap

Play.com

Thief: The Complete Collection | PC | £5.00
Alan Wake | 360 | £8.99
Skate 3 | 360 | £11.99

Tesco Entertainment

Battlefield 3 | PC | £21.41

Zavvi

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection: Limited Edition | 360 | £24.95

The Hut

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time | 3DS | £34.95

GreenmanGaming

Football Manager 2012 | PC | £6.77 – Steamworks

Gamersgate

Test Drive Unlimited 2 | PC | £4.50
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light | PC | £2.99
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition | PC | £4.98

Steam

Dead Island | PC | £7.99/$11.99/€11.99

If I’ve missed either a new release or a great cheap deal, please comment and make that information known.

Infinity Ward, Activision, and “Project Icebreaker”

Hans Wuerflein — Thu, 24 May 2012 05:11:49 +0000

Anyone who says there’s no such thing as videogame journalism hasn’t been following Patrick Klepek’s coverage of the Activision vs. everyone who used to work for Infinity Ward (but especially Zampella and West) court case.

I’ll pick out a few choice quotes, but really you need to read his breakdown of “Project Icebreaker”, which besides having a name fit for a Bond villain scheme, was a not-as-secretive-as-they-would-have-liked-it-to-be plan designed to “dig up dirt” on former Infinity Ward employees, especially Zampella and West, starting six months out from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2‘s release.

Thomas Fenady was director of IT at Activision. He left in December 2009, and now works at Warner Bros. Fenady testified that in the summer of 2009, then Activision chief legal officer (now chief public policy officer) George Rose instructed him to “dig up dirt on Jason and Vince” because “we just want to get rid of them.” Rose said the decision came from Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.
Fenady claims Rose asked him to gain access to West and Zampella’s email, voicemail and computer, and “don’t get caught doing it.” Whatever happened in the course of seeking out this information: “Bobby will take care of you. … Don’t worry about repercussions.” Rose denied he asked Fenady to specifically “dig up dirt” in his deposition with Activision, though he did discuss Project Icebreaker’s existence and instructing Fenady to find information.

And here is a great line from the case itself detailing how Activision’s clandestine operation probably wasn’t as secret as they would have liked:

“Plaintiffs learned about Fenady from a Facebook conversation Fenady had with Robert Dye, an Activision employee. Fenady told Dye that “atvi [Activision] asked me to dig up dirt on [Jason and Vince] about 6 months prior to COD release. looking for excuses to dump them…”

Oops.

Anyway, Klepek has a much more thorough breakdown in the original article, complete with the original court documents if you’d like to have a look over them yourself.

No related posts.

EA Facing Class Action Lawsuit From Former NCAA Players

Hans Wuerflein — Wed, 23 May 2012 05:24:05 +0000

Oh, EA Sports. Sure, licensed sports games bring in tons of money for the publisher, but they also bring in lawsuits. Lots of lawsuits.

Now it looks like they have one more to deal with. Last week a federal judge allowed a class action lawsuit against the publisher, as well as the National Collegiate Athletics Association and Collegiate Licensing Company, to procede.

The suit, filed in 2009 by a group of former college basketball and football players led by former UCLA star Edward O’Bannon, alleges that EA conspired with the collegiate organizations to keep the players from profiting from their likenesses.

Last year Judge Claudia Wilken threw out some of the conspiracy charges involving EA allegedly boycotting players, but the case as a whole will continue.

This lawsuit has implications reaching beyond videogame licensing though. There is currently a debate over whether or not (and if so, how) collegiate athletes from sports that bring in millions of dollars a year to their universities should be compensated. This suit centers on athletes being forced to sign away rights to their likenesses in order to compete, so if EA and the NCAA lose, it could shake up a multi-billion dollar industry.

Via: GamesIndustry.biz

Music Monday: Super Metal Brothers

Jenny Rouse — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:08:33 +0000

Geek points to anyone who can guess the quote I’m referencing in the post summary. It’s not hard.

Brothers Dan and Frank Johansen – known collectively as The Dual Dragons – share a love of composing, music, and video games. It only seemed natural, then, that the two would eventually team up to remix Final Fantasy songs with a metal twist. Their album “Final Fantasy History” strives to represent every Final Fantasy game released – up to and including Final Fantasy X. While most of the remixes cover single tracks, there are a few medleys to be found in the mix, and the medleys remain my favorite offerings of these two.

The album’s free to download, as are their one-shot remixes, on their website. The boys have been a little slow to upload lately, but as far as I can tell, they’re still active, and worth checking out if you’re into video game music with a metal flair. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that they finish their Castlevania tribute album.

Fight of the Red Wings (Final Fantasy IV – Medley of “The Red Wings” and “Battle 2″)

SeeD Mission (Final Fantasy VIII)

Crazy Motorcycle (Final Fantasy VII)

Zeromus The Manipulator (Final Fantasy IV

What’s New and What’s Cheap in the UK: Rayman, Warlock and Arma 2

Simon Julian — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:00:37 +0000

Releases-wise this week is better than last week’s, a little indie hit called Diablo 3 hits the PC, while Max Payne 3 releases on PS3 and 360, and Sonic 4 Episode 2 hits PSN and 360.

On the Deals Side this week, Shopto has Rayman Origins on 360 for £13.85 and Pandora’s Tower on the Wii for £19.85, Zavvi has Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition on the 360 for £17.95 and Warlock Master of the Arcane for under a tenner.

Elsewhere Gamersgate has Just Cause 2 for £2.49 and with DayZ fever swearing the Internet ArmA 2 Combined Operations is available for £19.95 or ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead for £9.95 and Steam has Dear Esther for £3.49.

What catches your eye on either side this week?

What’s New

Diablo 3
Athletics Tournament

Athletics Tournament
Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL
Max Payne 3
Sonic 4 Episode 2 – XBLA

Athletics Tournament
Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL
Max Payne 3
Sonic 4 Episode 2 – PSN

What’s Cheap

Shopto

Rayman Origins | 360 | £13.85
Pandora’s Tower | Wii | £19.85
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition | PC | £6.85

Play.com

Need For Speed: The Run | 360 | £14.99

The Game Collection

Virtua Tennis 4 – World Tour Edition | Vita | £15.95

Amazon

Bit Trip Saga | 3DS | £18.71

Zavvi

Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition | 360 | £17.95
Warlock Master of the Arcane | PC | £9.95

Gamersgate

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light | PC | £2.49
Just Cause 2 | PC | £2.49
ArmA 2 Combined Operations | PC | £19.95
ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead | PC | £9.95

Steam

Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition | PC | £1.75/$2.49/€2.49
Dear Esther | PC | £3.49/$4.99/€3.99

Indie Royale

the ALL-CHARITY LIGHTNING PACK | PC | £2.82 at the time of writing, but will change – Includes Osmos, B.U.T.T.O.N, The Shivah and Blueberry Garden

If I’ve missed either a new release or a great cheap deal, please comment and make that information known.

Hans’s May 16 vlog: Tastes Like Freedom

Hans Wuerflein — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:54:10 +0000

Sorry I keep staring off into nothing for like half of the video. Probably should have drank that energy drink about 20 minutes before filming instead. :\

So, what are you up to this week?

Please Continue to Hold: The Woes of Battle.net Security and Trying to Play Diablo III on Launch Day

Meagan Bickell — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:46:10 +0000

The last time I used my Battle.net account was in 2007 when I tried out World of Warcraft again after a few years’ hiatus. I recently tried to play WoW again with a friend who had never played before and had to do the account migration to the new Battle.net system.

I had forgotten my old password and the answer to my security question, so I tried to do a password recovery by changing the email address to my current one and sending my old password to my new email address. I needed to answer my security question to do so. (I think this is what happened, but it’s anyone’s guess what actually transpired during my attempt to get into my account. I know for sure that somehow my email got changed, but I still couldn’t access my Battle.net account.)

Eventually I just gave up, telling myself that when I needed to, I would just make a new account.

So now it’s the release day for Diablo III. To buy the game, I have to log into my Battle.net account. No problem, right? I’ll just make a new account.

Oh, but remember, I tied my email address to my old account that I can’t get into. Now I can’t untie it without logging in, and I can’t do that unless I have the answer to my security question. I also can’t use the first 6 digits of my WoW authentication number because I was never able to migrate my WoW account from the old Battle.net to the new Battle.net.

Ok, no problem. I’ll call customer service and just explain what happened and they’ll be able to fix me right up.

23 minutes later, I’m still holding while a recording keeps repeating every ten seconds “please continue to hold.” Every once in a while another recording chimes in about how I should go to the Battle.net website and it will magically fix my problem. Probably.

“No it won’t!” I keep shouting at the recording, “Shut your goddamned electronic face!”

I visit the website anyway, though, to try everything I can possibly think of. I try resetting the password (I need the answer to my security question), I try making another account again (I need to untie my email address from my old account), I try randomly typing answers to my security question hoping I get it right (I’m eventually locked out and am therefore forced to talk to a customer service rep. anyway).

52 minutes after my initial call, after trying everything on the Battle.net website I can find to do (multiple times) and never getting to talk to a customer service rep., through some sort of divine intervention I miraculously have an account. I don’t know if it’s my old one or a new one I created through the alchemy I practiced on the Battle.net website, but somehow I have an account I can access and buy things with.

So I am finally able to buy Diablo Triple Clawmarks. I had already downloaded and installed it, too, so I am able to go right to enjoying the awesomeness and majesty it radiates.

…for about 45 minutes. Then the Battle.net server goes down.

And here I am, waiting for it to come back up again. All I want to do is play locally with my husband, but I still have to wait for the server to come back up.

In short, the security system for Battle.net is very good and I hate it.

But hey, at least I’m not a Blizzard customer service rep. I bet they’re all getting earfuls from lots of even angrier gamers than I.

The Infinity Ward vs. Activision Kerfuffle

Meagan Bickell — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:03:50 +0000

Okay, so if you haven’t heard about this yet, basically former Infinity Ward developers are suing Activision for royalties that they claim Activision failed to pay them for their work on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Activision is counter-suing Jason West and Vince Zampella, former heads of Infinity Ward, for breaching their contract with Activision. The breach of contract involved a disagreement on creative direction, not necessarily on COD: MW2 specifically, and the Infinity Ward group leaving Activision and founding a new company, Respawn Entertainment.

That’s the general rundown. Hopefully the upcoming jury trial will clear a lot of the fuzzy details up.

Actually, speaking of the upcoming jury trial, Activision hired a pretty high-profile lawyer last week to represent them, according to The Verge. Ever heard of Beth Wilkinson?

If not, you should. She’s worked on cases against the likes of Columbian drug lord Dandeny Muñoz Mosquera and Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. She represents the NFL and Pfizer and is currently working with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on an antitrust inquiry into Google.

She also reportedly eats four steel I-beams for breakfast every morning and wrestles African elephants in her spare time, although I could not confirm those reports.

Basically, this lady doesn’t mess around. And now she’s working with Activision against West and Zampella, which, as I see it, is bad news for the former Infinity Ward heads.

Although she did work with Fannie Mae for a while to help boost their professional relationships before the global economic crisis, and we all know how well that turned out for them. So maybe Infinity Ward still has a fighting chance.

In a surprising move yesterday, Activision wrote a check to Infinity Ward’s lawyers for $42 million USD. The payment is supposed to include 10% interest and is in addition to an already-paid $22 million USD, which accounted for the former employees’ first quarter launch bonus.

Bruce Isaacs, Infinity Ward’s attorney, spoke to Polygon about the recent payment by Activision.

“Although it is a meaningful payment,” he said, “it is only a small portion of what we are seeking in litigation. It is outrageous that they made us wait, they obviously knew they owed the money and this just shows that they breached the contract.”

The payment is not supposed to be part of a settlement, according to Polygon, which lends some credit to Isaac’s claim that this is simply a “cynical attempt to look good before the jury trial.”

The Infinity Ward group still plans to pursue Activision for the rest of what they claim they are owed. Both Activision and the Infinity Ward group are set to appear before the Los Angeles Superior Court today.

Nukezilla was able to contact Lawyer Dog for comment.

“The case looks pretty black and white to me,” he said this afternoon.

Via: The Verge/Polygon

Serious Sam HD: Second Encounter Versus Multiplayer Now Free

Hans Wuerflein — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:54:45 +0000

Everyone loves free stuff. Even better is when that free stuff is pretty awesome, regardless of price.

Today publisher Devolver Digital has made the versus and survival modes of Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter free to play on Steam. This doesn’t include the co-op or single player, but it’s still a fun portion of a great game, free of charge.

The single player campaign and other modes are still available in the full game, which happens to be on sale at the moment for $5 by itself or part of a number of Serious Sam series bundles, but is now somewhat humorously listed as the “Campaign DLC.”

Devolver has also released the Legend of the Beast DLC pack, which adds new single and multiplayer levels to Second Encounter.

Apparently Croteam, developers of the Serious Sam franchise, have had this DLC in the works for some time, but needed to finish Serious Sam 3: BFE before they could polish it off. When The Escapist asked why a 2010 remake of a 2002 game was getting DLC in 2012, Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker was frank.

“F*ck you, that’s why,” Parker said.

Good enough reason for me.

Via The Escapist

The News that Almost Was: May 7-13

Hans Wuerflein — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:43:42 +0000

This week was slow. We managed to get a few good news posts up, but I just couldn’t find that much to report. We really are in that weird pre-E3 lul right now. A few things will be announced or leaked (probably by a smart PR person, capitalizing on the lack of other news), but most companies are busy getting their presentations ready for E3.

I try to remember to put something in these posts about how you should keep submitting tips, but for the next two or three weeks we really need them. I mean, on one hand there are so few stories happening that they’re hard to miss. On the other, we’ll be really down on content unless we find stuff to fill in the gaps.

Oh well. Complaint/begging for tips part of the post is now over. On to the news that didn’t make it for whatever reason.

EA has been saying that gloom and doom predictions about its subscriber base for Star Wars: The Old Republic were blown out of proportion. This week we found out they’ve actually lost about 25 percent, or 400,000, subscribers in the last month and a half. Ouch. And there might be another wave about to leave as a promotion giving level 50 players a free month to stick around is about to end as well. The current (officially released) numbers put the game at 1.3 million subscribers, but EA has said that the game can remain profitable with as few as 500,000.

There was other EA news as well, including a new Dead Space, the stunning revelation that they are working on games for the next console generation, layoffs are coming, and some numbers on Origin. They say it has 11 million users and has generated $150 million so far. After a bit of math, all that tells me is most of those 11 million accounts bought either Battlefield 3 or Mass Effect 3 elsewhere, then got stuck using Origin to install it. How nice.

There is a $99 version of the Xbox 360 available only at Microsoft stores, which there are only 21 of, that comes with a two-year contract for Xbox Live Gold at $15 a month. The higher monthly cost ends up costing about 10 percent more for the system than just buying it in the normal fashion. It looks like Microsoft is testing the waters a bit to see how a service contract subsidized gaming console would work using more or less the payment system most people get their cell phones under.

Music Monday: Listen To Animal Crossing All Day

Jon Ruggiero — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:01:40 +0000

The music of the Animal Crossing series has always been a favorite of mine, because of how the music syncs with the time of day. The music you heard at 4 p.m. was vastly different from one heard at 6 a.m. It’s a great way to ensure diversity in your music, as you’re always bound to hear something different whenever you start the game up. Now you can have that same philosophy in your daily life, thanks to Brian Lee.

Mr. Lee went on Youtube and found all of the different songs that correspond to a time of day. He then took the videos an set them up in a loop, with necessary transitions at the top of every hour, according to your computer’s internal clock. That means that you can now have your life match the soundtrack of Animal Crossing, something I know we’ve all been waiting for. The only thing that could make this better is K.K. Slider making an appearance on Saturday evenings.

GameStop Drops PSP Games from 1/4 of Stores

Hans Wuerflein — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:12:04 +0000

The PSP has had a troubled life. Despite eventually selling more than 71 million systems worldwide (as of last fall), it never really felt like a success.

Maybe it was the frustration of constant firmware updates, or the fact that just about every game ended up dropping its retail price down to $10 a few months after release, killing any motivation to pick up games at release. Either way, despite being pretty good hardware, it always felt like it was on life support from Sony.

With the launch of the Vita earlier this year it was only a matter of time before the PSP started being phased out.

The first major sign of that happend this week, with GameStop’s decision to stop selling PSP games in 25 percent of its US stores. A representative for the company told Kotaku the games are being pulled from GameStop’s smaller stores, freeing up limited shelf space in those locations.

“It will also provide a greater assortment in those stores that will continue to carry the category,” the company rep said.

I guess this sucks if you love your PSP and live in a town whose GameStop stops carrying them, but at least they aren’t completely dropping support for the system. Yet.

Via Kotaku

id Software Remembers Wolfenstein’s Birthday After All

Hans Wuerflein — Sat, 12 May 2012 06:42:23 +0000

During last weekend’s news wrap-up I lamented that no one involved with Wolfenstein 3D was marking the game’s 20th birthday with anything more significant than a tweet. Well, it turns out that they were planning on remembering it, it just took them a few days.

Earlier this week, Bethesda’s blog (which has handled this kind of stuff for id games too since the ZeniMax buyout/merger) did acknowledge the anniversary, and posted two really cool treats for fans.

First, Wolfenstein 3D is now playable in your browser. I guess all that time id spent on Quake Live is paying off in other ways.

Also, they released a 25 minute video of John Carmack giving commentary on the game, its development, the rise of modding, and other PC gaming history. I’m posting it below because it really is a must see for anyone interested in Wolfenstein or game development in general.

The News that Almost Was: April 30-May 6

Nukezilla Minecraft Server Update: Growth, Expansion, and Bounties

Meagan Bickell — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:00:28 +0000

Alright, so it’s only been about a week since the last update, but there’s been so much stuff being built I need to go ahead and unload some of these pictures.

Some improvements have been made to the base recently, including working light switches, courtesy of wexxy, and a bathhouse and lounge built by zard12. We’ve also got a nice little town sprouting up around the base now, so it’s feeling a bit more homey. Individual projects are looking good. I’m anxious to see how everything turns out.

Nothing to report on the spawn point improvements yet, but hopefully that project will get underway soon. The deforestation, however, is coming along nicely ;) In addition, we’ve had a couple more players join our Minecrafty family. Yay!

Speaking of that, EiC and ex-EiC sightings have been very few. As such, we are offering a bounty of 64 lapis lazuli each to whomever is able to get them to start building stuff on the server. We’ll need photo evidence, and be warned–I’m like a basset hound when it comes to sniffing out photoshops. And by that I mean I’ll be taking frequent naps during the investigation process.

Enjoy the screenshots :)

What’s New and What’s Cheap in the UK: Saint’s Row, Final Fantasy XII-2 and Portal

Simon Julian — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:00:14 +0000

Releases-wise this week looks a little better than last week’s, but not by much, Warlock – Master of the Arcane hits the PC, while Starhawk releases on the PS3 and Minecraft hits XBLA.

On the Deals Side this week, Shopto has Saint’s Row The Third on PC for £6.85 and Catherine for £19.85 on the 360 and PS3, Zavvi has Final Fantasy XIII-2 for £11.95 on 360 and PS3 and GoG has Alan Wake for around £9.31.

Elsewhere Impulse has Space Pirates and Zombies for £1.54, Gamersgate has Majesty 2 The Fantasy Kingdom Sim for a quid, with each of it’s expansions going for the same price, and Steam has the Portal series on offer in various forms, either Portal, Portal 2 or the Portal Bundle are all silly cheap.

What catches your eye on either side this week?

What’s New

Warlock – Master of the Arcane

Akai Katana
Minecraft – XBLA

Starhawk

What’s Cheap

Shopto

Saint’s Row The Third | PC | £6.85 – Steamworks
Catherine | 360 | £19.85
Catherine | PS3 | £19.85
Binary Domain | PS3 | £19.85

Zavvi

Final Fantasy XIII-2 | 360 | £11.95
Final Fantasy XIII-2 | PS3 | £11.95

Impulse

Space Pirates and Zombies | PC | £1.54/$2.49
Batman: Arkham City | PC | £9.99/$16.18

GoG

Alan Wake | PC | £9.31 Approx /$14.99

Gamersgate

Majesty 2 The Fantasy Kingdom Sim | PC | £1.00
Majesty 2 Monster Kingdom Expansion | PC | £1.00
Majesty 2 The Fantasy Kingdom Sim | PC | £0.99
Majesty 2 Kingmaker Expansion | PC | £0.99

Steam

Portal | PC | £2.37/$3.39/€3.05
Portal 2 | PC | £5.09/$6.79/€6.79
Portal Bundle | PC | £6.11/$8.49/€8.49

If I’ve missed either a new release or a great cheap deal, please comment and make that information known.

Meta Knight Banned from SSBB Tournament Play

Meagan Bickell — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:52:34 +0000

If you’re familiar with competitive gaming, then you’re familiar with the drama that goes with it. I’m not talking about the drama that unfolds during a close match, when both players and the entire audience are on the edges of their seats, breath held, and when a victor finally emerges the room explodes with cheers and applause. No, I’m talking about the cries of “broken” this and “over-powered” that. Sometimes those cries are justified. Sometimes they aren’t.

Whichever is the case for Meta Knight in Super Smash Bros. Brawl–and it seems there are plenty of arguments for each–the character was banned from tournament play starting January 9, 2013.

No, Nintendo didn’t issue a patch or anything. This ban is part of the current edition of the Unity Ruleset, the governing document for most major tournaments in the US and Canada.

The ban was actually announced last September, but APEX 2012 in January was the last major tournament to see the character on anyone’s roster.

In the January tournament, four of the top eight players and 21 of the top 64 competitors in the singles tournament used Meta Knight. The doubles tournament saw a similar saturation, with all four players in the grand finals competing with the character.

The way I see it, these statistics can be read in two ways–either people are playing Meta Knight because he’s considered “broken,” or he’s being considered “broken” because he’s so popular. In reality, though, it’s probably a bit of both.

Either way, it’s been about four years since Nintendo released SSBB, so they’re kind of beating a dead horse at this point. And besides, the upcoming Wii U/3DS sequel will soon replace Brawl, giving competitive players a new set of characters to argue about.

Via: the Escapist

Hans’s May 9 vlog: Yukon Wrap-up and Other Stuff

Hans Wuerflein — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:05:56 +0000

I give my final thoughts on the potential announcement of Microsoft’s “Yukon” (or Xbox 720, or whatever), CES, and other related stuff I’m tired of talking about. This one goes a bit longer than past weeks. Let me know what you think about how long I should ramble in these.

Also, what are you guys up to this week?

GOG.com Lands Alan Wake, Puts it on Sale

Hans Wuerflein — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:05:25 +0000

It was cool when GOG.com announced they were adding newer games to the site. After all, more games available at a good price, DRM-free is never a bad thing.

The only problem was that other than a few indie games, the newer stuff was all four or five years old and available cheap elsewhere.

That changed a bit today with the addition of Alan Wake to the site’s catalog. It was a big deal when it landed on the Xbox 360 a couple of years ago, and generally really well received too. But the PC version of Alan Wake first appeared on Steam just three months ago. In fact, it just hit physical retail a few weeks ago, so while not a same day release, I think they can go ahead and call it “new” instead of “newer” with a clear conscience.

While the normal price of $29.99 is the same as the Steam price, GOG is launching it on sale for $14.99. Pretty good deal really. The sale only runs through the morning of May 15 though, so if you want it at this price, grab it soon.

Included with the GOG version are most of the goodies that come with the Collector’s Edition elsewhere ($34.99 on Steam), with the rather sad omission of the game’s soundtrack. GOG usually manages to land those as a bonus, so it must have just been some weird licensing thing this time around. Too bad.

Haiku Impressions: Zenbound 2 (PC)

Meagan Bickell — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:07:08 +0000

Feels quite villainous
Tying up figures with rope.
Just needs a train track.

Music Monday: Rayman Origins

Sean Fletcher — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:12:21 +0000

After hearing nothing but good things about it, I picked up Rayman Origins for the Vita in March, and it’s one of the best platformers I’ve played in recent memory. The only games I can think of that come close are the New Super Mario Bros. Games for the DS and Wii.

The entire game is just completely charming. Everything from the colourful backdrops and characters to the excellent level design and controls. To top it al off, the soundtrack is great. There aren’t many games that can stop me becoming frustrated with a hard level just because I enjoy listening to the music.

The soundtrack was composed by Christophe Héral who also worked on Beyond Good and Evil, and I can only hope he will be involved in the recently leaked sequel, Rayman Legends.

Lum King

Chest

Ocean World – Glouglou

Ocean World – Abyssal Glouglou

The News that Almost Was: April 30-May 6

Hans Wuerflein — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:54:13 +0000

Finally! I’m done talking about ‘Yukons’ and release windows and other industry crap. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super happy we got this story, and I stand by our reporting of it. I’m just tired of looking over the same documents, page after page of marketing BS, day after day. I’ll probably end up doing my vlog next week at least partly about the next Xbox posts, but I’m glad to be moving on from that story.

And while that was a cool story, the scope of getting it all organized written and posted, combined with me going to a wedding last weekend and my sister’s college graduation this weekend means I haven’t had time to get as much other stuff posted, or even submitted to my writers as I would have liked. Oh well. Gives me plenty of good material for this post, I guess.

This week Wolfenstein 3D, essentially Genesis to the first person shooter genre, turned 20 years old. I’d love to post a link to a big retrospective IGN or Gamespot did to commemorate the event, but I can’t seem to find one. A Google search turns up more forum posts than news stories. Here’s an interesting wrap-up John Romero wrote over a decade ago to make up for that. The shareware is still out there if you want to try in out for free, but you’ll probably have to set up DOSBox yourself to get it running. Steam has the full version for $5, pre-set up for modern operating systems, so that would be the way to go if you’re feeling lazy.

Indie game bundles are so played out. Indie music bundles are where it’s at. The Indie All-stars Bundle features 10 albums (with five more as a ‘beat the average’ bonus) from various indie artists. The gaming connection (and thus, justification for it being plugged here) is the inclusion of PPPPPP: The VVVVVV Soundtrack and Buckner and Garcia’s Pac-Man Fever. The money gets split between the artists, bundle creators, and charity. The two charities supported here are the EFF and VH1′s Save the Music, which supports school band programs threatened by budget cuts.

If you clicked the link to the Wolf3D shareware up above, you might have noticed something odd about the top of the page. It looks like FilePlanet will soon be no more. I’ll have to admit, I haven’t really been to any of those old download sites in a while, other than to dig up a patch for a game released in 2001. Still, it’s kind of sad to see a site most PC gamers knew and used back in the day shutting down.

TERA is out and some people are excited. Until a couple weeks ago, I honestly thought TERA and Rift were the same game, and couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about. I stand by that assessment.

You will play this, and you will be changed forever. That is all.